Colleagues and the audience remember Ninella Kurgapkina as a really cheerful person. In daily life she always had a smile projecting energy. On the stage, her dance, reckless, flawlessly precise, was the evocation of optimism. Kurgapkina was able to perform complicated stunts, rotations, fearless flights in lifts easily, as if jokingly. Her innate abilities together with her titanic enthusiasm enabled her to show faultless virtuosity when personifying images of her emotional characters sharing her energy generously with both her stage partners and the audience.
The perspicacious Agrippina Vaganova noted this gifted student since the school time. Being absolutely confident of the girl’s bright talent, she succeeded in getting her admitted in the Kirov theatre in 1947 after the young dancer graduated from the Leningrad dance high school. At first Ninella Kurgapkina felt despaired about having to dance in corps-de-ballet and no roles were offered to her, but Vaganova kept saying “Work hard and you will dance on stage, too”. Kurgapkina did so. Evidentially, one day she entered the Kirov stage as a solo dancer, being no more a promising beginner but a fully formed virtuoso who knew no technical difficulties.
Kurgapkina’s whirlwind, dynamic dance bore an inspiring message being an evocation of charm, merriness and fervour, always lively by its nature. The dancer was a queen of allegro, striking the audience with her flawless variations. Her Kirov repertoire was vast, including Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) Giselle and Mirta (Giselle), Gamzatti, (La Bayadère), Suimbike (Shurale), Shirin (Legend of love), the Devil (Creation of the World), but optimistic and cheerful roles suited her the best. Perfect for her nature was the role of Jeanne, inspired by the pathetic of struggle in Flames of Paris, as well as the Vienna Waltz directed by Leonid Yakobson with a humorous undertone. But the peak of her art, according to many critics, was role of Kitri in Don Quixote – a spontaneous idol of the crowd, her Spanish girl fearlessly rushing into the whirlwind of rotations, flying into her partner’s hands with desperate courage, combining her careless friskiness with coquetry and humour.
Ninella Kurgapkina had a long artistic career. In late 1960s, while she was still performing on stage, she began to share her experience with younger dancers. She gave daily classes for other Vaganova’s students who respected her as a successor of the great teacher. Kurgapkina prepared roles for many bright dancers including Tatyana Terekhova, Zhanna Auypova, Elvira Tarasova, Irma Nioradze, Ulyana Lopatkina, Tatyana Tkachenko and Evgenia Obraztsova. During her 40 years as a ballet mistress in the theatre, Ninella Kurgapkina with her “all-seeing eye” brought to perfection the technique of many ballet stars in Leningrad and later St Petersburg. Generations of artists were inspired by her energy, humor and enthusiasm, creating festive atmosphere for the audience...
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